With 47 seconds left in Lejeune’s homecoming game Friday night, the Devilpups had only one option: keep East Carteret from tying the game.

After the Mariners scored a touchdown to bring them to within 28-27, Lejeune blocked East Carteret’s ensuing extra point, and the Devilpups held on to win the Coastal Plains 1-A Conference game.

Down 28-21, East Carteret’s Brennan Lewis scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to pull his team to within one. The Mariners originally opted to kick an extra point, but decided to go for two following a penalty on Lejeune that brought the ball closer toward the end zone.

However, the Mariners committed a false start penalty, putting them back five yards, and forcing ECHS to kick an extra point. Lejeune then blocked the kick to win their seventh consecutive game.

The Devilpups (7-1, 2-0), visit Pamlico next week.

“We just had to stop them one more time,” Lejeune coach Darryl Schwartz said. “The pass interference was horrible for us that kept their drive going, and after they scored, we told our players to watch out for them drawing you offsides. They did, but it was good for us that they had a false start, and by the grace of God, we did a good job blocking the kick.”

To make the win even more special, Lejeune senior running back and homecoming king Jamaz Richardson eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing milestone for the second consecutive year. He ran for 312 yards on 31 carries with two touchdowns.

“It’s homecoming night and I just wanted to win,” Richardson said. “I just wanted to make an appearance, have a good night, make my team happy, our fans happy and win this game. That’s all I wanted.”

Lejeune started hot.

Lejeune quarterback Daxton Derrick scored on a 1-yard run to give the Devilpups a 6-0 first-quarter lead.

Both teams had three turnovers in the first half, all fumbles, but it was Lejeune that capitalized on one with 3:50 left until halftime.

Facing fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line, Derrick found a wide open Alex Ynfante in the end zone to give Lejeune a 12-0 lead. Later, Richardson busted out for a 54-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 20-0 following a two-point conversion.

“We are a running team and the rain shouldn’t have affected us as much as it did,” Schwartz said. “We had six exchanges that were not good with the quarterback. That doesn’t happen because we practice in the rain and don’t fumble. So I don’t know what happened tonight.”

The Mariners would score with 16 seconds left in the first half when Lewis connected with Tre Stewart for a 21-yard touchdown pass.

It looked as if Lejeune would continue its dominance at the start of the third quarter when Richardson again found open grass for a 75-yard touchdown run to make it 28-6. But East Carteret would not go quietly.

Two big plays towards the end of the third quarter, a 57-yard touchdown run from Tydecian Simmons, and a 24-yard interception return for a touchdown from Jacque Brown that helped cut the deficit to 28-21.

However, it would not be enough in the end as the Devilpups came through with a big blocked kick.

Now the Devilpups can turn their attention to next week’s game at Pamlico.

“Pamlico is a very good team and they are actually mean,” Schwartz said. “Not a bad mean, they are just tough. We are just planning to get people healthy, and work from there.”